A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE SURCOAT, ENSIGN, AND SHIELD. i r
As the shield \vas a necessary instrument in defence of the body, so was it with
the ancients an honourable badge or -ign ; for, with the Grecians and Romaic, they
who returned from the battle without 'it, were in great disgrace, and interdicted
from holy things, as the antiquaries of those nations write. And as the shield v.a
necessary and honourable, so it was judged by
all nations the most coin en:
tabula, to contain marks of valour and honour, as Bccmannus very well oi,
Dissert. VI. Chap. V11I. " Scutum cur veteres potissimum eligerent, ratio iuit
" quod inter anna maxime conspicuum esset, ac dclensivis puritcr atque oilen .
" armis omnibus nobilius haberetur."
Antiquaries, historians, and heralds, amuse us with many various forms of shields
used by the ancients, which are but of little use to us, therefore I shall be verybrief
with them. There is no kingdom, people, or country, but have had several
forms and fashions of shields, as they have had of apparel, ot which I shall give
here only some few forms, ancient and modern, that ha\e been generally known
and received all Europe over.
. Shields
for the most part of old were to be seen triangular on the ancientest
monuments, seals and coins; by the French called VAncien Ecu, as in Plate I.
fig. i. that is the ancient shield : Arid from this triangular form, came the custom
in heraldry, of placing the greatest number of figures above, and the smallest below,
as 2 and i ; and if more figures, such as stars, 4, 3, 2, and i. This form of
shield is to be seen on our ancientest monuments with figures so situated.
The other form of a shield, Plate I. fig. 2. now universally used, is square,
rounded and pointed at the bottom, as Monsieur Baron describes it, in his Art of
Blazon
"
; Quarre arrondi &- pointu par la bas ;" which they say is after the
fashion of the Samnitic shield used by the Romans. Sylvester Petra Sancta, in
his Treatise of Heraldry, cap. n. "
says, Existimo enim ad scuti Samnitici ftirmam
"
interne cuneatam & pinnatam, aequalem autem superne exigi posse materiatam
"
scuti hujus honorarii figurationem." Shields after this form, are commonly
made use of by the Britons, French, and Germans.
The Spaniards and Portuguese, have the like form of shields but ; they are
round at the bottom, without a point, Plate I.
fig. 3. The Germuns, besides the
former, have other forms of shields whereon they place their arms ; two of which
I shall here add. The first has its sides sloping, and again bulging at the flanks,
as fig. 4. and the other, as fig. 5. has nicks and notches, called a shield-chancre ;
because a shield after this form was used of old by them as a convenient one for
resting the lance upon the notch, and in giving a thrust ; yet its form is not so
convenient as the former ones to receive armorial figures. The two shields first
mentioned, have been, and are more frequently used than any other form of
shields.
Besides these various forms of shields, we find them also frequently distinguished
by their different positions ; some being carried erect, and others pendant, or
hanging by the right or left upper corner : This the French call Escu Pendu, and
the Italians, Scuto Pendente ; the reason given for it, is, that when tiltings and
tournaments were proclaimed, they that were to joust in these military exercises,
were obliged to hang up their shields of arms some days before the time of exer-
, along
the windows and balconies of the houses, near the place of action, and
if in the field, upon trees, pavilions, or barriers of the place of jousting ; that they
who were judges, or otherwise assisted in these noble exercises, might know the
actors. Columbier says, " That they who wrere to fight on foot had their shields
" hung by the right corner, and they on horseback by the left." This position
of the shield is called pendant by some, and couche by others, and was very fre-
quent all Europe over, from the eleventh century to the fourteenth. But all the
shields couche or pendant that I have met with of the sons of the royal family of
Scotland and England, and of the nobility of these kingdoms, were pendant, or
couche by the sinister, and very few by the dexter cornel- : The shield, pendant,
or couche, when lying on the right side, was then a mark that the owner thereof
had formerly been exercised in tournaments, into which none were admitted but
those that were truly noble. And it "may not be improper here to
no sovereign ever carried his shield pendant or couche i because,
observe, that
as soverei,.
entered the lists of tournaments.
they never formally